Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 134biphonemic classification polyphonemicclassificationbisegmentalizationPhonetically motivated sound change in which a complex segment is split into twosimple segments, e.g. medial gemination in the OHG *Old High German consonantshift:essen ‘eat,’ or Eng. cop-per (loanfrom Lat. cuprum) as well as Eng. ham-mer[ss] yields the gemination. ( also articulatoryphonetics)phonologyReferencebisemy [Grk‘sign’]The simplest type of ambiguity. A word is bisemic, if it has two meanings which arefrequently, though not necessarily, opposed to each other, e.g. Fr. sacré: ‘holy’ and‘damned.’ ( also homonymy, polysemy)bitContraction of ‘binary digit,’ the smallest unit of measure for the informational content ofbinary decisions. Every unit contains one bit of information since it is equivalent to asingle yes/no-decision ( binary opposition). Thus, in the case of a coin, there are two